Thumbnails of videos may be used in a variety of ways. For example, a graphical user interface may display multiple thumbnails that represent videos stored in a database that are identified in response to a search query. Each thumbnail may be a frame selected from the video it represents or a series of frames (for example, an animated Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) file) selected from the video it represents. In many cases, different videos that have similar content (for example, videos of approximately the same location that were captured at approximately the same time) are represented by similar thumbnails on the user interface.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.